Almost a quarter of the deaths in England and Wales could potentially be avoided, figures show.

About 23% of deaths registered in 2012 were caused by " certain conditions which should not occur in the presence of timely and effective health care or through wider public health interventions", the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

The leading cause of avoidable death among men was ischaemic heart disease and for women it was lung cancer, according to experimental ONS data.

Men are more likely to die from avoidable causes than women.

But the rates of avoidable deaths have been steadily declining over the last decade.

The authors of the report found that avoidable mortality rates were higher in Wales than England from 2001 to 2012.